Written by: Sania Ahmed Khan
Posted on: February 08, 2023 | 
| 中文
Kiran Foundation performers highlight the marginalization of Lyari and its residents during the Karachi Wellness Festival (KWF)
The second edition of the Karachi Wellness Festival, held at Veritas Learning Circle (VLC) on the 4th and 5th of February 2023, drew large crowds from all walks of life to participate in over 120 sessions, focused on mental and physical wellbeing in today’s fast-paced digital age. Organizers of the festival chose VLC’s flagship campus in PECHS to connect wellness practitioners with ordinary people, most of whom admitted to experiencing an unwinding experience of such a kind for the first time in their lives.
VLC was established in 2016 by Muzaffar Bukhari, who worked in the financial services industry for about 10 years before certain life events made him seek therapy, and he found his true calling in the field of education and mental health. Bukhari currently serves as Partner at Centre for Personal and Professional Development (CPPD) Pakistan, a franchise of UK’s leading humanistic integrative counselling training school of the same name. His vision for VLC embodies global best practices to create an enriching learning experience for students in Playgroup (age 1-2 years) up to Grade 7 (age 11-12 years). The school maintains an individualized, child-led, experiential, multi-sensory approach to learning, enabling students to absorb and practically apply what they are taught.
Muzaffar Bukhari
It came as no surprise that majority of the Wellness Festival attendees were VLC students, who had no problem returning to school on the weekend, only this time they were accompanied by parents and relatives, and together they could participate in a range of wellness offerings such as yoga, sound healing, art for healing, mindfulness, parenting circles, spoken word, improv, talks and panels.
These wellness offerings were spread over four distinct zones of the VLC campus, namely Kensho, Kai, Zen and Ukiyo.
Visitors tracing their feelings with a piece of string. The words “engaged” and “thankful” had the greatest number of knots
Kensho is a Japanese term for “enlightenment gained by a painful experience”. According to spiritual thought-leaders, every painful or heartbreaking moment in our life presents an opportunity for personal growth. Losing a loved one, coping with a disease, failing in exams or in business, are all painful experiences that can break our spirit. But the wound is where the light enters. Somewhere in this pain, there is learning; there is an upward growth of our soul, an expansion of the spirit. Often this heartbreak leads to achieving something far greater than we could have imagined.
Sabina Khatri's talk on 'The Need for Trauma-Informed, Parent-Child Education Model in Pakistan'
If we reflect on our prominent heartbreaking moments, or our Kensho moments, we will be able to identify a lesson or blessing that came with it. At Karachi Wellness Festival, a notable feature of the Kensho Zone was an art exhibition by Dr. Zarina Hassan: a motivational speaker, trekker and painter who lost sight in her eyes due to glaucoma. Passionate about science from a young age, Dr. Hassan pursued a degree in medicine before being diagnosed with a rare condition that slowly damages the eye’s optic nerve and ultimately leads to blindness. Despite knowing that she could not save her vision, Dr. Hassan fought to delay the loss and simultaneously prepare for a life that was very different from what she had envisioned for herself. She redefined her boundaries in order to be continually stimulated by the world around her, never ending her journey to learn, and received many accolades for her services as a motivational speaker and a humanitarian. Most importantly, she became an example of true grit and determination for her three sons, who saw firsthand how a disability cannot prevent someone from thriving in life. Visitors drew inspiration from Dr. Hassan’s exhibition “Sight Beyond Sight”, and realized the power that Kensho moments can give for someone to rise to the next level.
Children painting
Wellness sessions at the Kai and Zen Zones were focused on practicing mindfulness in routine activities to avoid being overwhelmed by everyday stresses. Choosing to slow down amid the hustle and bustle of modern life is a much-needed skill for those looking to infuse Zen in their lives. What this means is that the heart, mind and gut can be more in sync with each other if we regularly and intentionally focus our awareness on the present moment, while calmly acknowledging our feelings, thoughts and bodily sensations.
At an art therapy session titled “Jumpstart Your Imagination”, NLP Master Coach, Adnan Syed, encouraged participants to practice mindful breathing by using the diaphragm muscle efficiently and allowing lungs to completely fill up with oxygen. They did so by placing one hand on their chest and one hand on their belly, just below the rib cage. Syed explained that when we inhale, the diaphragm muscle contracts and moves downward to allow our lungs to expand to full capacity. This pushes our belly out and we notice that this hand rises, while the other hand on the chest remains still. When we exhale, on the other hand, the muscle returns to its original position and abdominal muscles also tighten to fall inward. This breathing technique helps one relax by reducing blood pressure and heart rate, and has other long-term benefits, such as improving muscle function during exercises to prevent strain, and increasing how much oxygen there is in our blood.
Participants then proceeded to break creative barriers by trying to sketch with their non-dominant hand, with the added challenge of not lifting pen off the paper. They also enjoyed feeling the texture of different types of crayons, pastels and paint on their respective canvases, and enjoying the process more than the end result.
Families enjoying delicious food at the Ukiyo Zone
Lastly, no festival for Karachiites is complete without delicious food, a marketplace, and live performances, all of which were arranged in the Ukiyo zone, a large open space that allowed families to sit back, relax and cherish the last of the calm, winter sunsets in this city. Families were also seen cozying around the Tapal Connection Café, which offered karak chai as well as green tea to adults, while children played board games, watched puppet shows and made clay pots nearby.
Children making clay pots
It would be unfair not to mention all the small business owners who showcased their wellness-related products and services from stress relief potions to seed mixes, astrology readings to hypnosis consultations, care packages to sustainable fashion; there was something for just about everyone!
Saba Saboor, a Gen Z, first-time mom attending the event shared her thoughts, “This festival gave me the chance to interact directly with mental health experts and artists that I looked up to. My wellness journey is only just starting, but I’m grateful for having been exposed to different kinds of wellness initiatives taking place around this city.”
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